Synergistic
Synergistic relates to the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. When something is synergistic, it means various parts work together to produce an enhanced result. The musicians must have played very well together if you’ve just heard a synergistic symphony.
We all have experienced these instants of divine harmony when the horse and we perform in great understanding. Previously, the common term was “The Zone.” Books have been written about alimentation creating the zone, hoof trimming, etc. Nutrition and hoof balance are part of excellence, but to produce performances beyond the studious obedience to well-applied aids, the horse has to coordinate closed kinematics chains and other systems that are not influenced by the rider’s aids.
If we coordinate the horse’s physique for the athletic demand of the performance, the horse develops muscle synergies, refining the execution of the move. Berti did, and I was necessary to refine our suggestions to let him explore a synergetic trot. Traditional equitation is at the level of “one muscle, one movement” ideology. Forces generated in the fibers of any muscle are shared throughout the entire biotensegrity locally and globally via the softest and hardest fasciae. Motion is finely tuned through a synergistic facilitated by the multidimensional fascial fabric.
Obedience can make a talented horse execute every movement, but a horse instinctively protects his athletic imperfection or other issues; the horse performs out of his talent but protecting his body state, and the dysfunction keeps the performance below the horse’s potential and leads to pathology. Knowledge of equine biomechanics helps to understand the dysfunction and prepare the horse’s physique more efficiently for the athletic demands of the performance. Biotensegrity enhances soundness and excellence, refining how t
Learn, Unlearn, and Relearn with the Science of Motion’s Powerful and Entertaining “Simple 25” course. Five days per week, a short video shows how to educate a young or older horse. From the first day under the saddle to the first steps of piaffe or tempi changes, daily videos show the efficiency of a gentle approach. https://www.scienceofmotion.com/documents/science_of_motion_25_courses.html
Learn, Unlearn, and Relearn with the Science of Motion’s Powerful and Entertaining “Simple 25” PLUS course.
Five days per week, a short video shows how to educate a young or older horse. From the first day under the saddle to the first steps of piaffe or tempi changes, daily videos show the efficiency of a gentle approach. Horses and riders are better than the system that demeans them. We posted this short video, and many commented, “I would love to learn this.” Well, you can; our ”Simple 25 PLUS” program includes the education of a three-year-old in the Science of Motion.” It is more than a gentle and harmonic interaction with the horse; it is a therapy, a human and equine therapy.
“Unlike the masses, intellectuals have a taste for rationality and interest in facts. Their critical habit of mind makes them resistant to the kind of propaganda that works so well with the majority.” (Aldous Huxley) The horse carries us above the masses; we learn to apply new facts and realize that, in many instances, the solution is in our critical minds. Intuition is our major asset, but intuition is not infallible. We need new knowledge, but new knowledge contradicts tradition. We need to learn, unlearn, and relearn. Paraphrasing Alwin Toffler, "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
The horse in the video relearned to walk. The work in hand was originally a therapy rehabilitating him from a fracture of the right hind leg’s coffin bone. To rehabilitate the horse, I had to create perfect hoof placement and efficient work of the deep digital and superficial flexor tendons that have shortened due to the long immobility, allowing the coffin bone to remodel. The rehab demanded more than hoof adjustment. The horse's whole physique had to be re-educated. The horse fully recovered and is the father of the Science of Motion In Hand. Technique. The technique is inspired by tra
Pep Up Pep up When I presented Lafayette in hand for the first time, it was at the demand of a dressage group. I used the music from the movie “Barry Lyndon,” which was a very slow tempo. Lafayette was able to do it because of the long training he had with the rehabilitation from his right hind leg coffin bone fracture. As I exited the dressage ring, three dressage queens approached with polite grins on their faces. They said, “nice, but can you pep up a little bit?” They could have asked why a presented the horse at a slow tempo, or even better, how Lafayette does it, but they were locked in their beliefs, anxious to criticize anyone that did not fit in their little box. At this time, they were defined as “dressage queens.” They were the early version of actual keyboard riders. Their belief is a cult, and they must aggressively protect their faith from facts. I followed Mark Twain’s advice, “They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience,” I said “No” and left. I walked away with Lafayette, and an angel was there, maybe twelve years old, with long blond curled hair and blue eyes looking up. She had a piece of paper and a pen on her chess. Her mother told me, “She wants an autograph.” I said yes, of course, and I signed my name. The young girl looked at her paper very disappointed and told me, “I don’t want your name; I want the Horse’s name.” Thirty years later, she is still an Empress in my heart. Jean Luc
Disconnection San Diego was severely disconnected when I purchased him. His trot was short and jerky. He was not comfortable to sit. He was capable of jumping large jumps but was not ridable in the show jumping ring because he took off like a maniac at the landing of the jumps. The rider did not connect the jerky trot and the problem over the jumps. Mechanical thinking thinks a horse jumps at the canter, so who cares about the trot? As a result of the disconnection, the horse developed pathology at the level of the right hind leg annular ligament.
Horse Ballet
Jean Luc Cornille
“Musicians in general are intelligent and the time spent on extensive explanation and advice is well spent.” (A. B. M. (Boni) Rietveld, Dancers’ and musicians’ injuries)
“Injuries are caused by bad luck, fatigue, and stress, but, most of all, by faulty technique.” Boni Rietveld is an orthopaedic surgeon who devoted his professional life entirely to the prevention, diagnostics, and treatment of dancers’ and musicians’ injuries. Analogies between humans and equines have to be approached with extreme caution as there are considerable differences between human and equine physiology and neurophysiology. However, as well as for dancers and musicians, the main cause of horses’ injuries is faulty techniques.
Through 30 years of experience, Dr. Rietveld has observed that faulty techniques were often due to ignorant compensation for physical limitation. Through the same period of time I have observed that faulty techniques in equestrian education were often due to ignorance of the athletic demands imposed on the horses’ physique by the performances and consequently incapacity of the trainers to identify and correct horses’ faulty compensations. Trainers know how the movements are supposed to look like but lack sound understanding of the underlying biomechanics factors. In dance, ignorant compensations for physical limitations form a structural predisposition for dance injuries. As well, improper analysis or ignorance of the horse’s physical limitations allows compensations predisposing the horse for injuries. Rietveld comments, “The dance teacher is the first line of defense in the prevention of dancers’ injuries.” In parallel, the horse’s teacher is the first line of defense against injuries. Unfortunately, when knowledge is lacking, trainers and self-proclaimed masters becomes the main factor of equine injuries. They advertise rehabilitation but they deliver debilitation. For instance, when lateral m
"There Is A Better Way" Science Of Motion Jean Luc Cornille.
Joining Forces: The Master’s Journey by Elizabeth Uhl, DVM, PhD, Dip, ACVP
Being able to work so closely with Jean Luc and Pascalina has been very enlightening. The work with her, as well as with Bentley, combined with discussions with Jean Luc have gotten me thinking about the journey toward mastery. This kind of journey is personal and never ends as it requires constant learning and continual self-improvement. However, such journeys’ goals and are ultimately more similar than they are different, so we can share experiences as we learn from Jean Luc’s guidance. Here are some of the things I have learned in hopes they will be useful.
Do not fool yourself – learn to think again: The mastery I have dreamed of is becoming a centaur in the sense of merging to be one with a horse. However, such a merger is dynamically fluid and the static resistance way of the ‘classic’ riding I was taught has often gotten in the way. Jean Luc overcame this problem as he learned to create the dynamic connection by paying close attention to what horses were telling him. This required awareness of the need to immediately reject what he had been taught, or assumed to be true, if it conflicted with their message. His ability to do this on his own is both amazing and courageous, as a more common tendency is to have one’s identity and self-worth tied to beliefs and the approval of others rather than being firmly rooted in values. When this happens the ‘Totalitarian Ego’, as Adam Grant calls it in his book “Think Again”, steps in to fiercely defend beliefs even to the point of denying obvious evidence that they are wrong (i.e.: the horse is tense, unhappy, not making progress and/or lame). I admit I went through periods where my totalitarian ego took over and I went into denial about how we were doing, but luckily Jean Luc and my horses were always brutally honest. They invalidated my excuses and taught the important lesson of humility. The admission I was wrong and real